Granado in history books with Moto2™ debut at Silverstone

JiR Moto2 expands its team line-up this weekend with the debut of Brazilian youngster Eric Granado at the Hertz British Grand Prix in Silverstone.

Granado is scheduled to become the first Brazilian rider to start an intermediate-class Grand Prix since Cristiano Vieira and Cesar Barros raced in the 250cc class at the Rio GP in 2001. At 16 years and 7 days, Granado will make his Grand Prix debut just seven days after celebrating his 16th birthday, which would also make him the youngest ever rider to start an intermediate-class Grand Prix race, taking the record from Chaz Davies, who was 16 years 55 days old when he made his debut in the 250cc class in Japan at the opening race of 2003.

Eric Granado

“I have tried to prepare myself very intensively physically during these six months of preparation, the three steps I did in the CEV and some official IRTA training. I have learned a lot and I went through situations that are sure to serve me very in the World Championship because I know I have a team with much experience and that is helping me to evolve. So far I've suffered several crashes, the experience of which will teach me not to make those mistakes any more. I've watched many videos and races from previous years, about the track at Silverstone, to analyse the details of the layout, because to me this is a new track. My goal in this race, like in the other races too, is to develop and learn from the better riders who are more experienced than me, because I still have much to learn!”

Gianluca Montiron, Team Principal

This race will be the debut of Eric Granado. The challenge for him racing with the other riders will not be so easy. We have prepared for this moment, considering that between tests and races we covered a distance that is about one and a half of the total distance of the whole 17 GPs in a season. The presence of a Brazilian rider has to be considered a major event, after Alex Barros retired from the World Championship and I hope that this project could be a start-up to create a new generation of riders from the country.”